SOFIA – The 2014 IIHF Continental Cup tournament opened over the weekend, with CSKA Sofia running the table with a 3-0 record and moving on to the next round.
Closing out the tournament with dominant displays against the Turkish club Izmir BJBSK (19-3) and Beostar Belgrade from Serbia (10-2), the Bulgarians’ only test in the first round came in their opening game against CG Puigcerda.
The Spanish club roared back from a 3-0 third period deficit, after Viktor Stefanech’s opening goal was followed up with second period markers by Georgi Iskrenov and Alexei Yotov. Vitalis Kulikov cut the lead to 3-1 early in the final frame, and a goal from Lukas Ruzicka made CSKA Sofia sweat out the final two minutes of the game but ultimately saw them hold on for a 3-2 victory.
CSKA Sofia started off well with the shot on goal count 16-8 for the hosts, but Slovak goaltender Andrej Beliansky made great saves and was beaten only once at 13:31. Igor Kaikl won a battle for the puck close to the boards and made a great pass to Stefanech. His first shot was blocked by Beliansky but Stefanech got the rebound for the score.
CSKA struck again with two decisive goals within 78 seconds. The first one was scored by Georgi Iskrenov on a breakaway after a masterful pass from the defensive zone by Miroslav Holubek. Then Alexei Yotov, a long time scorer for the Bulgarian National team, was left alone in front of the CG Puigcerda net and made it 3-0 at 36:34. The 35-year-old Yotov managed bat down the puck after it shot high from the blue line by Andrei Mukhachev. The first attempt was off, but going down to the ice Alexei found the net with the second.
The Spaniards were given new life in the start of the 3
rd period when Dusicka was send to the penalty box for slashing. Ukrainian defenceman Vitaliy Kulikov scored 18 seconds before the penalty expire, swinging the momentum over to Puigcerda. CSKA was able to kill two more penalties, but a big mistake in the defensive zone let to a goal by Ruzicka just 1:52 before the end of the game. For the delight of the fans in the Winter Palace the “Red Team” withstood the pressure in the last seconds, helped by a delay of game penalty to Puigcerda, and won 3-2.
“I’m not satisfied after this win, because I warned the players in the second intermission that 3-0 means nothing, as they well know too. One goal can change everything and our letdown in the 3
rd period made the game difficult in the end”, said head coach of CSKA Kiril Hodulov later.
26-year-old CSKA Sofia goaltender Sergei Klimentyev, making his debut with the team after playing in Russia’s third division league last year, made 28 stops on 30 shots and was selected as CSKA’s Player of the Game.
The Group A triumph on home ice marks another step in a return to prominence for CSKA Sofia, a club with a proud past that has won 23 championships in its home country but only two since 1986. However those two have come in back-to-back years for CSKA in 2013 and 2014, and now with the Group A win the arrow is firmly pointed upwards for the Reds.
A win in Group A means that the team moves on to the second round of the Continental Cup. CSKA Sofia will travel to Bremerhaven in Germany for the Group B tournament taking palce from 17-19 October. Awaiting the Bulgarians will be hosts Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven, the Belfast Giants (GBR), and the Tillburg Trappers (NED).
“We know what we have to improve. The opposition in group B will be on a higher level, so we need to play with four forward lines to match their speed,” said Hodulov. “This is a great achievement for a Bulgarian club – to win a tournament in the Continental Cup and to play in the second round, but we don’t want to stop here.”
Click here for scores and statsIVAN TCHECHANKOV
